The invention relates to improvements in electronic drums and in particular to a new electronic percussion system that simulates the look, feel and play response of an acoustical drum.
Following the success of electric keyboards and guitars, innovators have created the electronic counterparts of other acoustical instruments, including drums. Electronic percussion instruments for outputting electrical signals that trigger synthesized drum sounds are now often used by musicians seeking the advantages of a controlled output, namely, an electrical signal that can be channeled to the desired downstream equipment and eventual application to loudspeakers, tape recordings, transmitters or other utilizing equipment. By converting the player's performance through the use of electronic sensor pads into an electrical signal, the output can be more easily managed than "miking" the direct acoustical output of traditional drums. In providing the electronic counterpart of acoustical drums, small circular resilient pads are often used to convert the strike of the player's drumsticks into electronic impulses that are in turn converted into synthesized drumlike sounds that are under the control of the audio engineer. The electronic drum pads represent one kind of electronic percussion instrument for creating the synthesized drum sounds. An example of the electronic drum pad is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,725. Typically they are made with stretched skin backed by a light density foam material over a transducer sound board. While electronic pads of this kind have enjoyed a following among musicians and audio engineers, there is a definite disadvantage to the player in that the look, feel and response of the pads fails to give the drummer the same response rhythm that a traditional acoustic drum provides. Since drummers learn their musical talent from acoustic drums, the changeover to electronic pads may be unacceptable to some performers and less than optimum for others. The disadvantages are primarily in the feel of the sticks a they strike the simulated drum surface and, in the drummer's motor memory in reaching for the usual placement and strike area of conventional acoustic sets. Thus far, the pads have not been able to provide the same feel and texture as the drum heads of the acoustic snare, tom and bass.
In another type of known electronic drum, an external sensor is mounted to contact the acoustical drum head and pick up its vibration, sending the resulting signal to the utilization electronics. The intent there is to provide the drummer with a realistic acoustic drum feel and yet provide a controllable electronic signal for downstream mixing, recording and application to live performance speakers. Such externally triggerable sensors used in combination with modified acoustical drum heads did provide the desired feel to the player's sticks but had the disadvantage of being extremely susceptible to false triggering due to inadvertent light hits on the drum heads, rims, or other parts of the drummer's set up, and picking up sympathetic vibration due to ambient sound from other drums, instruments, or loud speakers in the vicinity. The sudden spurious triggered output from the drum synthesizer could ruin a performance or recording. An example of such an externally trigger percussion sensor is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,498.